We’re always looking for new ways to engage with candidates; we want to be first, and get there faster and more effectively. This year, we saw three key shifts in how job seekers consume career information that we foresee carrying over into the New Year.

Trend #1: It’s All About Mobile

Mobile is growing and becoming one of the primary ways to access information. According to the International Telecommunication Union, there are 1.2 billion mobile web users worldwide, and 25 percent of Internet users access the web solely through their mobile devices.

Companies that haven’t already responded to this trend will need to in 2013. Mobile initiatives for recruitment are the next frontier in catering to the candidate experience. Begin by creating a mobile enhanced career page that doesn’t require a viewer to scroll around, or zoom in and out to access the relevant information. If your organization supports high-volume hiring and has the corporate brand to attract candidates, consider a standalone app like PepsiCo’s U.S. Possibilities, which provides candidates with video, blog entries, job search tools, and alerts “all in the palm of your hand.”

Trend #2: Shift to Visual, Interactive Channels

The world is becoming much more visual and interactive to accommodate the instantaneous communication we’ve come to expect, and sensory experiences that produce a higher level of engagement. When it comes to talent acquisition, we’ll likely see job seekers and employers react to this trend.

The ways that candidates have traditionally displayed their resume will shift. We’ve already seen innovative applicants change their resume format to videos and infographics — and employers are beginning to respond. Home Depot, for example, has done a good job of helping candidates align their skills with open positions in this short quiz and “Behind the Apron” video series.

Not only will employers need to ensure that their career portals are more interactive and engaging, but will also have to shift traditional processes like phone screening and interviews. Visual channels like Skype and live video will likely become more prevalent.

Most organizations are aware of the power of social media, not just for marketing, but also for customer service and brand awareness. It’s also proven successful for recruitment. Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn are all channels to search for candidates as well as engage with and educate them on career topics.

Recruiters should expect that candidates will be doing the same. In addition to submitting a traditional resume and scouring job boards, candidates will be actively searching open positions on social networks and building their personal brands to provide employers with a fuller picture of their skills. “Social” saw significant growth in 2012, and there’s no reason to expect it to slow down in 2013. The way candidates and employers interact on these channels will continue to be refined as data trends provide insight that will help recruiters better align their communications to their goals, and the expectations of prospects.

All of these trends are non-negotiable for recruiting in 2013. Developing and implementing a recruiting strategy that incorporates these points will, without doubt, set any company ahead of the recruiting curve.

This article is provided for informational purposes only and is not intended to offer specific legal advice. You should consult your legal counsel regarding any threatened or pending litigation.

http://snaphop.com Wen Tian

Great article! One correction below:

“there are 1.2 million mobile web users worldwide”

Shouldn’t this be billion instead of million?

[corrected 12/11 6:24 a.m. - Todd Raphael ]

http://www.shakercg.com Joseph Murphy

Erin, nice concise observations.
The nature of the candidate experience has been getting increased attention. Two years ago, reading about the job was identified as the top method for learning about it. The trend of demand/expectations for a more engaging experiences is quite evident. Mobile apps have made delivering interactive candidate experiences easier. But are they more valuable?

Great post! It’s true, as we move into 2013 job seekers will be more heavily embracing new technology like mobile job seeking and video interviews. In fact, job seekers can even record video interview answers from their mobile devices now! The visual medium is going to become more important moving forward for both job seekers and recruiters, so it will be important to keep that in mind for your 2013 recruiting efforts.

http://www.ascendify.com Lauren Smith

Nice, Erin!

One more…

Career sites will become more social next year – transformed in active talent communities.

Rather than rely on social networks, companies are realizing that they’d rather build their own community made up of candidates who have readily expressed interest in them. Allows for better control of content, messaging, and employer branding too.

About the author

Erin Bazinet is a sourcing team manager at Seven Step Recruiting, where she helps business meet high-volume, high-complexity hiring needs. She works with advanced Boolean search, social media sourcing, and engagement and applicant tracking to build a robust talent community and deliver the best candidates for open positions. You can connect with her on Twitter at @ErinBaz.